Irfan Habib, historian and professor emeritus of Aligarh Muslim University, says that the selective removal of sections from textbooks “reflects a misinterpretation of history that can affect entire generations; It will also hamper the chronological disclosure of events which will make it difficult for the students to grasp the facts”.
He further said that students of history should be aware that societies were structured differently, but the rationalization of the textbook, may deprive them of that notion. “For example, the abolition of foreign rule reflects ignorance about the economic, social and intellectual history of those eras. In short, history can be reduced to mere propaganda,” he says. Talking about the changes in the Delhi University (DU), a senior academic at Delhi University (DU), on the condition of anonymity, said, “History is an important inquiry into the past. It is not about cleaning up the years. Academic burden Teachers can reduce as many rubrics as possible in order to reduce them, but eliminating the whole part entirely would be tantamount to proving the past wrong.
He further adds, “Cleaning up history should not be the agenda of any course as students will develop a distorted understanding of the past. Considering the fact that a lot of information now comes through social media, which is often Incorrect and badly researched, removing some sections will further confuse students. In the long run, it may affect their overseas careers, as questions may be raised about their conceptual clarity and foundation If their minds are not attuned to developing critical intelligence about the past, how will they develop into capable graduates?”
The Faculty underscores that history as a subject may not be a “fairy tale”, but rather an impartially critical juxtaposition of the past in keeping with the present. “Therefore, such rationalization can do little to maintain that balance,” he says.
Anshu Mittal, principal of MRG School, Rohini, New Delhi, has a different point of view, as she says, “Although all sections are important, NCERT has done due diligence to remove some of the subjects that have already been taught. and was discussed extensively in the previous classes. It is a remedial curriculum measure to reduce the study load of the students and reduce the material overlap.”
She further claims that the students as a whole have a strong sense of political and historical awareness. “They are well versed in medieval and modern history from a very young age, so there will be no problem of continuity. Since they have been doing well in History classes and tests since the introduction of offline classes, re-reading the same section in Class XII will be a repetitive exercise, and even exhausting for them Will happen. ,